1. Technical Field
The invention relates generally to editors for creating and editing software applications and more specifically to editors for creating and editing software applications for interactive image video tours.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image video tour software applications provide users with image video tours of a predetermined facility using a software program that converts a series of digitized images gathered in and around the facility into a virtual image video tour of the facility. Such image video tours have been created, for example, for nuclear power plants, schools and other facilities. There are circumstances under which emergency personnel, rescuers, police units, and the like, need to familiarize themselves with a particular facility. Video tour editors provide such personnel with a way to view a virtual tour of a facility on a computer monitor before entering a potentially dangerous environment in or around the facility.
There exists software for creating and editing image video tour editors for use with image video tour viewer software programs. Such editors provide an easy-to-use, visual interface for creating image video tours that can be viewed with the viewer. Such editors also can be used for adding or replacing existing pictures in tours that have already been created. Tour photos and maps are placed in specified directories. Tours are created by dragging and dropping thumbnails (small versions of each picture) of the photos and maps from the specified directories into a viewer, adding descriptions, and placing locational arrows on the maps. Components and related information, for example electronic dosimeters, telemetric dosimeters, Area Radiation Monitors (hereinafter “ARM”), and Continuous Air Monitors (hereinafter “CAM”) overlays also may be combined with the images to form a portion of a video tour.
Related art image video tour editors, however, lack various features for creating and editing more sophisticated image video tours. For example, related art image video tours lack application programming interfaces (API), including a Dynamic Linked Library (DLL) that provides access for other programs to various functions within an editor. These functions include, for example, providing tour lines on various maps associated with the tours, tour points on the maps, hyperlinks on the maps, coordinating arrow positions with a primary photo, auto position and rotation of arrows for alternate photos, site plans, notes associated with components, and component searching capability. Therefore, there is a need in the art for an interactive image video tour program that can provide one or more of these features, among others, for creating and editing interactive image video tours.